The present invention relates to apparatus for delivering a traveling fabric web to a web-handling location for winding or folding of the web. More particularly, the present invention relates to a fabric web delivery apparatus of the type having a delivery arm pivotably mounted in a machine frame with a driven delivery roller supported at the free end of the delivery arm for use as a peripheral driving contact roller for a fabric winding roll of a surface-driven fabric winder.
Three basic types of fabric winding apparatus are in common conventional use. A surface-driven winder, or "Sochor" winder, utilizes a driven roller in peripheral driving contact with a fabric winding roll to drive the roll while applying a traveling fabric web peripherally thereto to wind the web about the roll. Such winders are commonly utilized for winding large batches of relatively stable woven fabrics. Since the drive of the fabric winding roll is carried out exclusively through the driven peripheral contact roller, the peripheral surface speed of the fabric winding roll remains substantially equivalent to the speed of the peripheral contact roller as the fabric winding roll increases in diameter progressively over the course of the winding operation and, accordingly, it is not necessary to provide any regulation of the rotational speed of the fabric winding roll in relation to its progressively increasing diameter.
In a so-called rising or ascending batch winder, the fabric winding roll is arranged on a pair of support rollers arranged in horizontally adjacent parallel relation to one another with a traveling fabric web being supplied over one of the support rollers for winding application to the periphery of the fabric winding roll. Accordingly, in this type of winder, as in a surface-driven winder, the peripheral speed of the fabric winding roll naturally follows the speed of the support roller so that hereagain no need exists for regulating the rotational speed of the fabric winding roll over the course of the progressive building of the roll. Such rising-type winders are typically utilized for winding relatively small fabric rolls and for winding fabric webs which are not sufficiently stable to withstand the relatively high stress of the peripheral driving contact roller in a surface-driven winder.
For winding relatively large rolls of knitted fabric and other relatively unstable fabric webs, a so-called center or axis-driven winder is commonly utilized, wherein driving of the fabric winding roll is accomplished by driving its axial core about which the fabric web is wound. As will be understood, this type of winder requires some means of regulating the driving rotational speed of the fabric winding roll over the course of the winding operation to progressively reduce the driven rotational speed of the fabric winding roll in relation to its progressively increasing diameter so that the peripheral speed of the roll is maintained substantially uniformly at the delivery speed of the traveling fabric web. With relatively sensitive fabrics, a separately driven conveyor roller is utilized for feeding the traveling fabric to the fabric winding roll. Such conveyor roller may be arranged for peripheral contact with the fabric winding roll or may be maintained at an approximately constant distance from the periphery of the fabric winding roll throughout the winding operation. In winders having both an axis-driven fabric winding roll and a separately driven conveyor roller in peripheral contact with the fabric winding roll, some means must be provided to maintain the contact pressure between the conveyor roller and the fabric winding roll approximately constant during the winding operation.
Instead of fabric winding machines, so-called cuttlers may be utilized as a fabric web delivery apparatus, wherein a fabric guide arm is driven in a back-and-forth oscillating motion to fold a traveling fabric web in a cuttled, i.e. pleated, fashion.
West German published patent application No. 20 61 888 discloses a "universal" apparatus for winding textile fabric webs which can be manipulated to operate either as a rising-type winder, a surface-driven winder, or a center-driven winder. This apparatus provides a pair of arm members joined by an articulated connection enabling the arm members to be fixed in any desired position with respect to one another, with one arm member being mounted in a machine frame and the other arm member supporting a drive means together with bearing components to accept either a contact roller or a fabric winding core.
Thus, for operation of the apparatus as a rising-type winder or as a surface-driven winder, a contact roller is mounted on the second arm for driven operation. In this manner, the contact roller may function in conjunction with another roller, e.g. a withdrawal roller of a preceding textile machine such as a tenter drier, to provide a pair of support rollers for operation as a dual-roller rising batch winder. On the other hand, the contact roller may be arranged in peripheral driving engagement with a fabric winding roll for operation as a surface-driven winder to enable the production of relatively large diameter fabric rolls.
On the other hand, for operation of such apparatus as a center-driven winder, the contact roller is replaced by a fabric winding core for driving operation thereof for winding of a traveling fabric web directly about the core. As will be understood, an additional contact roller should be utilized in this case for delivering the traveling fabric web to the core and, as necessary or desirable, the contact roller may be equipped with its own drive for operation of the apparatus as a combined center and surface driven winder. As will further be understood, some regulator means is necessary for controlling the driving of the fabric core as a function of the speed at which the traveling fabric web is fed.
The universal winding apparatus as above-described has several disadvantages. First, the articulable arms of the apparatus must have a sufficiently stable design and mounting to be capable of supporting a fully wound fabric roll. Further, an additional conveyor roller with another pivot arm is still required to enable operation of the apparatus as a center-driven winder. Finally, the apparatus is still incapable of conversion for cuttling operation to fold a fabric web in a pleated manner.